Creatine plus lifting: the extra kilo, measured

What they did

The authors screened nearly 1,700 records and pooled 12 randomized trials of adults under 50 who lifted weights with or without creatine. Lean body mass was the main outcome; body fat percentage and fat mass were secondary. The protocol was preregistered, which is a good sign.

What they found

Compared with resistance training alone, creatine added about 1.14 kg of lean mass (95% confidence interval 0.69 to 1.59), and shaved body fat by about 0.9 percentage points and 0.7 kg. It did not matter whether people were trained or untrained, and taking it with a carbohydrate drink did not add anything. The authors put the practical dose at 7 g a day, or 0.3 g per kg of body weight.

The Luxe read

One of the best-supported supplements there is, and the effect is exactly as advertised: real, and about a kilo. Nobody is getting a new body from a scoop of powder; you are getting a slightly better return on training you are already doing. Worth noting the review is limited to under-50s, so the over-50 question, where creatine gets interesting for muscle and possibly brain, is a different set of studies.

Questions worth asking

• Am I lifting? The kilo comes from creatine plus training, not creatine alone.
• Is it plain creatine monohydrate from a third-party-tested brand, or a proprietary blend charging for a story?
• Does anything in my health history mean a clinician should sign off first?